The dipped beam bulb in my pre facelift Octavia II blew on my car today.  I went to take the headlight out, I removed the white plastic nut and then went to pull the black lever that is normally behind the grille, but it appears to be stuck.  I did try to vigorously wriggle the headlight to see if something would come loose but it didn't.  I eventually changed the bulb by reaching behind the light and getting the bulb out and in that way, but if the indicator or sidelight bulb went I'd have been stuck.  Has anybody else had this problem and been able to get the headlight out in one piece?  Many thanks

Yes have had it. Did you make sure you pressed the little locking tab by the lever? If so then it sounds like the unit is jammed and when I had this I tried a squirt of wd40 under the headlight towards the base plate and then used a pair of pliers on the hooked lever to get a better grip and more force. It came out eventually with a good wriggle after who I greased e runners up on the base plate and its been fine ever since.

The levers can be very stiff. Give it a good tug

The levers on mine were very stiff but did release. I sprayed everything with silicon spray before I put them back in and they were fine the next time. Just keep them lubricated.

I can only echo the above comments.

 

They need a very hard pull.

 

Once the headlight is out grease up the sliders and then repeatedly pull and push the lever to work in the lubricant into the sliding mechanism.

Are you pushing the black plastic tag at the same time.

Thanks all for all the advice, I didn't want to go pulling too hard at anything for fear of breaking something. Due to the good quality bulbs Skoda put in the car when new I've never had to take a bulb out of the headlamp unit before, it must be their 10 year life span...

I've attached a photo of the mechanism that holds the drivers side headlight in and attached it to this post (I hope) so that if somebody else gets stuck they'll find the answer.

On 04/09/2015 at 02:33, ian110 said:

Thanks all for all the advice, I didn't want to go pulling too hard at anything for fear of breaking something. Due to the good quality bulbs Skoda put in the car when new I've never had to take a bulb out of the headlamp unit before, it must be their 10 year life span...

I've attached a photo of the mechanism that holds the drivers side headlight in and attached it to this post (I hope) so that if somebody else gets stuck they'll find the answer.

Hello, I have the same problem. I want to pull out the headlight for cleaning because I got the car without that lid that Holds the headlight sealed. I almost got it but only half of it will come out, the other side seems stuck into the bumper somehow. I will try the steps mentioned here tomorrow and I hope someone is still around here to give me more info on that. Cheers!